Time Warp
by IloveBumbleBee2009
Summary: Trust Evy to find objects that shouldn't be found; especially ones that can mess with time. And if having embarrassing kid stories revealed isnt enough, an old friend of Ardeth's is in danger! Uses Deana's character Safti with permission. Ardeth/OC
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Okay! I was reading the wonderful Deana's stories (and if you haven't read them you really need to!) and the plot bunnies just infested my brain! Lol, all I own is the idea for this story; Mummy is Sommers' and Safti is Deana's. This story has nothing to do with MMM. Enjoy!

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_Italics equals thought_

{} equals different language than English

**Bold equals emphasis**

Ardeth and Safti spoke in Arabic as the confused (and pretty much scared to death of the two fierce-looking warriors) cabbie drove them thru the streets of London. As per the usual, it was raining and pretty gloomy. Ardeth didn't understand what kept happening to the sun; did the gods want to make London the most miserable place to live? If so, he thought it was working.

{It is good that we could make it to see the O'Connell's on such short notice} Ardeth tried not to turn green.

{Yes, except for the plane…} Safti laughed. Ardeth hated planes. Too many bad experiences. Ardeth gave his long-time best friend a mock glare, trying not to smile.

{Do not laugh at me! **You** try flying and crashing. Both times!} Safti chuckles.

{You know I only bait you because it works. Anyway, what did Evy say she found again?}

{A pendant that she believes is the Amulet of Mnemosyne}

{The Greek goddess of memory?}

{Yes}

{Who's Amulet is said to transport one into past memories, where one could easily wreak havoc on the future?}

{Yes} The men gave each other looks that could only be described as the Medjai version of 'oh crap, here we go again'.

{Let's hope not} they both agreed at once.

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**I think this is going to be a funny one. For those waiting on Mav, she's starting to come back, so please be patient. Reveiws are love ~ 3**


	2. Chapter 2

"Ardeth, Safti!" Evy greeted them at the door as they arrived at the O'Connell estate. She hugged her long-time friends, who gladly hugged her in return.

"It is good to see you Evelyn," Ardeth smiled, glad to see the woman in good health.

"We have missed you and your family," Safti added.

"And we have missed the two of you. Come on in!" Evy led them inside the large, warm house. Instinctively knowing what was to come, Ardeth counted down in his head; _{Three… Two… One…} _As though on cue, a blond rocket, AKA Alex, flew through the hall and clung to the desert warriors legs.

"Ardeth, Safti, you're here!" Alex cried. The two Medjai laughed and each hugged the little boy.

"Hello, Alex," Ardeth said.

"What, no well wished for me, old boy?" Jonathan laughed from the living room, carrying a box under his arm. Both Safti and Ardeth greeted Jonathan.

"What is that you have?" Safti asked.

"This, friend," Jonathan smiled. "Is the Amulet Evy was talking about. I just got back from getting it from the museum. It hasn't even been taken out of it's shipping package yet."

"So you haven't had time to steal anything shiny from it," Rick O'Connell teased, coming into the room. "Hey, guys, glad to see you." Jonathan grumbled in indignation.

"Never mind that. Let's get this to Evy and have a look at what we're dealing with, shall we?" With that, the group headed into the kitchen. Ardeth and Safti, though they weren't aware of it, sensed that this amulet was going to be a lot of trouble for them.

**Disclaimer: **_The Mummy and its plot, characters, etc. is property of Director Stephen Sommers. The character Safti is the creation of the awesome Deana and is used with her permission. Everything else is mine._


	3. Chapter 3

Jonathan set the box on the dining table carefully.

"Here you are, old mum!" he said proudly. "The Amulet of Mnemosyne, still in its packing, just like you asked!"

"Thank you, Jonathan," Evy gave her brother a hug. Rick picked up a small pry bar from the counter.

"Let's get this baby open." Ardeth and Safti helped Rick pry the top off the shipping crate, careful not to jar the possibly breakable contents. Evy removed the straw used to cushion the item inside and pulled out a gilded jewelry box from the bottom of the crate. She lifted open the box's lid.

"Oh no!" She cried miserably.

"What is wrong, Evelyn?" Safti asked her, brow furrowed.

"It's broken!" She held up the amulet. The beautiful golden pendant glittered, but the problem was obvious – the gem that hung from the chain was gone, leaving its mounting behind. "Now it may not work!"

"And that's a bad thing?" Rick and Jonathan asked.

"Actually Evy, the amulet will still work. The gem was not used to contain the power, but to control it." Ardeth corrected. "Now, with the gem gone, the power will be erratic and uncontrollable." As though to back up Ardeth's statement, the chain glowed, and the group found themselves seeing what had passed before.

_Two young boys in the Medjai camp were playing swordfight. They looked roughly ten years old; one was shorter and thinner, with a mop of curly black hair. The other was taller and broader with shorter hair. They both wore Bedouin-style black robes that almost swam on them. The larger boy swung his sword (really just a large stick) at the other boy, who blocked it with his own stick. Both of the sticks broke at the edge of their hands; the boys looked down and the nubs of wood in their hands, confused._

"_Um… how do we call this, Safti?" Asked the smaller boy._

"_I don't know, Ardeth." A tall man - Ardeth's father and chief of the Medjai – stepped out of a tent._

"_Ardeth Bay!" he bellowed. "Come here this instant!" Ardeth squeaked and ran up to his father._

"_Yes sir?" He asked, trying to put an innocent smile on his face. His father glared at him._

"_Put it back." Ardeth looked at his feet and went inside the tent, coming out a moment later with something in his hands. Ardeth's father marched him to the outskirts of the camp, where he made Ardeth put down the creature he held, and then marched him back._

"_Did you bring a lizard home again?" Safti asked his friend when the chief was gone._

"_No… I brought a snake home."_

"_Ardeth one day a snake is going to bite you in the face and I will not be sorry when it happens!" Safti cried, exasperated with his friends good-natured but often unwise fascination with animals. _

"_I know… I can't help it." They heard Ardeth's father calling for him and went to look for him; they found him near the tent where they kept the hawks. _

"_Ardeth, I have been talking with your mother, and she and I both agree that since you love animals so much, it's high time you train your own hawk." Ardeth's face lit up._

"_Truly, father?" Safti tried not to snicker; Ardeth looked like his father just gave him a bag full of candy from the city._

"_Of course," His father smiled and opened his hands, revealing a small hawk chick. It chirped at Ardeth. "This is the only one old enough for training. Take good care of him, son." Ardeth gently took the chick from his father, a look of delight on his face._

"_I will, father! I'll call him Horus!"_

Everyone blinked as the vision ended. Ardeth fought back a blush; he was still a little embarrassed about always getting in trouble for bringing home creatures.

"Hey, Ardeth, did you ever actually get bit by a snake?" Alex asked, smiling.

"All the time, Alex." Safti snickered. It was very true - he had even gotten bit in the face, like Safti had predicted, which was why he had a beard.

"I see what you mean about uncontrollable," Rick said, concealing his amusement at Ardeth for now. "But here's the bigger problem: If we don't have the gem, who does?" Again the necklace glowed, and the group saw a snatch of the past.

_A young woman with long, rich red hair the color of a desert sunset, fair skin, and eyes greener than crocodile scales held the gem. She wore slightly expensive, men swear-inspired clothes and around her neck was a necklace of three strings with blue beads on them. The last string had a ivory ankh charm on it. She twisted the gem in the sun; it glinted happily in her hand. The woman smiled and slipped the gem in her pants pocket._

"Lexi has it!" cried Ardeth, Safti and Evy at on time. Evy looked up, confused.

"Wait, how do you two know her?" Evy couldn't figure out how the daughter of a rich investment banker in New York could have met the two desert warriors.

"We met her in Cairo when we were all children," Ardeth explained. "We were good friends but we haven't seen her since then."

"Well, then, we'll just go get the gem from her and you can catch up on old times!" Jonathan smiled. Suddenly Alex ran into the room.

"Mum, Dad, a men just threw this through the window!" Alex handed Evy a rock with an envelope tied to it. Evy opened the envelope.

"A letter; it says: "We have Lexi Montgomery and the gem. We will trade the girl for the chain. Refuse and the girl dies." Oh God, Lexi!" Ardeth tried not to grit his teeth; Lexi was one of his closest friends, if the people who had her hurt so much as a hair on her head…

"We need to get this girl Lexi safe," Rick said. "Was there an address or anything on the letter.

""Yes, the British Museum! They must have attacked her while she was working."

"Let's go. Jonathan, Alex, stay here." Rick, Evy, Ardeth and Safti ran out to the car. Ardeth prayed that his temperamental, reckless friend would still be alive when they got to her.

**Disclaimer: **_The Mummy and its plot, characters, etc. is property of Director Stephen Sommers. The character Safti is the creation of the awesome Deana and is used with her permission. Everything else is mine._

**AN: I can see Ardeth as an animal lover, cant you? :3**


	4. Chapter 4

Alexandria 'Lexi' Montgomery, reluctant rich girl and full time explorer for the British Museum, had gotten into more than her share of tight spots in her thirty-two years, but this was a first. She had just turned in a report on the jungles of Ghana when someone had hit her over the back of the head with something, knocking her out. She woke to find herself sitting on the floor in the storage room, her hands and ankles tied together around a pole behind her and her waist tied to the pole as well. A red bandana was tied around her mouth, gagging her. Her head hurt terribly and still hurt where she had been hit. There were five men around her, speaking in Arabic; Lexi figured they didn't expect a 'rich American infidel', as they had called her, to understand their language. They were dead wrong; Lexi had taken Arabic in college and understood them perfectly. Not that she was going to tell them that.

{What do we do with the girl?} One of them asked.

{If her friends do not hand over the Amulet chain, we kill her.} Lexi forced herself not to tense, not wanting to make her head swim any more. It wasn't the first time she had received a death-threat, she could work her way through this. She didn't know who they had contacted, or if help was coming, but she knew she couldn't wait to be rescued. If not for the damn concussion the goons had given her she would be able to think straight. One of the goons left the room, returning a few minutes later.

{They are here.} Another goon, seemingly the ringleader, came over to her.

"Now is your moment of truth, American," he slurred in thickly accented English. He removed another strip of cloth from somewhere and blindfolded her. A moment later Lexi heard the door close and knew she was alone.

Ardeth and Safti searched the Museum, careful to be silent. Rick and Evy had gone to deal with the goons, leaving them to sneak in, get Lexi, steal the gem if they could, and get out. In Ardeth's mind, Lexi was the top priority. The two came to a spilt in the hall.

"Ardeth," Safti said. "I know you fear for Lexi. Go find her, I'll look for the gem." Ardeth nodded. They each started down one of the halls, Ardeth trying to still the hammering in his chest.

_Please, Lexi,_ he prayed. _Please be okay._

Lexi forced herself not to tremble. She was thoroughly frightened now; she wasn't sure if the goons knew, but she had a slight hearing problem that made hearing soft sounds - like the footsteps of an attacker - very difficult. And being in the situation she was, she felt very vulnerable. Lexi wasn't used to vulnerable, and it scared her. To make matters worse, her condition was deteriorating, making her dizzy and nauseous and unable to keep from dancing in and out of alertness.

_Don't think about it, Lexi,_ she told herself. _Think about something else, anything else._ Lexi thought about the first thing that always came to her mind: her two best friends in the world, Ardeth and Safti. The thought of the two scruffy, grinning ten year old boys made her smile; she missed them so much. Her only mementos of them was the ankh necklace she wore, a book of stories and a doll on her bedside table at home. Though the objects were twenty-two years old, and worn in places, she treasured them greatly. Sitting in the storage room, half unconscious with her life on the line, she found herself wishing Ardeth and Safti were there to swoop in and save her out of nowhere like they did when they were little.

The door opened and Lexi tensed, straining the clot on her head. A few silent seconds passed and Lexi felt a hand on her face. She thrashed, trying to get away, accidentally opening her wound again in places and making her head spin violently. The hand stopped her, gentle but firm.

"Lexi, stop, it's okay." Lexi didn't recognize the voice, but she was sure it wasn't the goons that had clocked her. It was far too warm, too caring, to be one of them. Her gag was removed.

"Who… are… you…?" She slurred, weak from her experience and nearly comatose. The gentle hands removed her blindfold. Lexi blinked, forcing her eyes to focus through her pounding head.

The man was no one she had ever seen before, tall and built, with prayer tattoos on his face, black robes, shoulder length black hair and kind brown eyes. A total stranger, yet she instantly knew him.

"Ardeth Bay…" she breathed before being plunged into darkness.

**Disclaimer: **_The Mummy and its plot, characters, etc. is property of Director Stephen Sommers. The character Safti is the creation of the awesome Deana and is used with her permission. Everything else is mine._


	5. Chapter 5

Evy O'Connell was tense. The 'bargaining' was not going well, and it was clear that as soon as Ardeth and Safti appeared with Lexi heads were going to roll. She just hoped everyone got out alive, especially Lexi; she adored the spunky redhead. Rick held the chain to the Amulet, and she was holding a gun behind her back. Rick had his own weapon in his back waistband.

"I will ask you again," the Arab man they were arguing with said. "Give us the chain."

"Sure. _After_ you give us Lexi." Rick frowned. The Arab man sneered and gestured to the men, who turned and left. At that moment Safti snuck back, empty-handed, unable to find the gem. Evy nodded to him slightly. _Please Ardeth,_ she thought. _Please find Lexi._

Lexi slumped against Ardeth as he cut her free. Ardeth tried not to give into the fear in his heart; Lexi was in bad shape, bleeding heavily from the back of her head, and warm to the touch. Ardeth wasn't sure if it was fever or just from being in such a hot room, but what he was sure of was that Lexi needed a doctor. Now. Ardeth carefully lifted the unconscious woman, making sure her head rested on his shoulder for support.

"Hold on, Lexi," Ardeth murmured. "We're going to get you help." Ardeth began to head back towards Rick and Evy when he heard what sounded like footsteps. Ardeth ducked into an alcove and waited, listening. A man walked past the area he had just been and went into the storage room. Ardeth mentally swore as the man started shouting and ran back where he came from. He had been looking for Lexi. Not a moment later the sound of a gunfight was heard.

_No time to look for the gem now, _Ardeth thought. He quickly carried Lexi through the halls, hoping to get her out without running into anyone with a gun. He couldn't fight and hold Lexi at once, and if he set her down she might get kidnapped again. Ardeth held Lexi's bleeding head to his shoulder and hurried down the hall, trying not to move too suddenly or roughly. Lexi groaned softly, her forehead hot under Ardeth's fingertips. Ardeth felt his heart grow heavy with fear. Lexi was going to die at this rate. He rushed through the halls.

_Please, Allah, do not take her, _he prayed. _Not Lexi. Not now._

Rick and Evy ducked behind the wall. When the goon had come in yelling something, Rick had known their goose was cooked. Safti had been a big help in the gun fight, but with bullets raining down on them, things were looking bad. And as soon as Ardeth came out with Lexi it was going to get worse.

Safti let out a cry; a man had snuck up on Rick. He brought his gun up but it was knocked from his hand.

_So that's your game?_ Rick punched the man in the jaw; he stumbled back, and was quickly joined by two other goons, who Evy and Safti jumped to take care of. Rick's goon grabbed a spear from a nearby Neolithic display and attacked him with it. Rick dodged once, twice, but was knocked to the ground quickly. Rick felt a hard hit t his skull, not quite enough to knock him out but dazing him for a good few seconds.

Which was plenty of time fro the man to take the Chain.

"Rick! Safti the chain!" Safti rushed after the man as he ran off, but it was too late. He was gone. Instead, he nearly slammed into Ardeth, carrying Lexi. Safti was momentarily stunned; Lexi, the spirited ten year old they had been so close to, was now a nearly dead victim of greed. Ardeth had fear in his eyes, and with Lexi's ragged, shallow breathing, it was easy to see why. Their goose just went from cooked to burnt.

The fighting had ended almost as quickly as it had begun now that the chin was gone. Rick, sporting an ugly bruise on his forehead ran up with Evy.

"Oh God!" Evy cried, rushing to Lexi. "Is she…?"

"She will be soon. We must get her to a hospital." Ardeth struggled to keep his voice calm.

"Right, come on!" Rick lead the group, running for Lexi's life, to the car outside. Ardeth and Safti sat in the back, Lexi across them, forever growing paler and hotter to the touch. She muttered in her sleep, growing delirious. Ardeth, had he been a weaker man, would have lost his composure and begun to cry. Instead, he held Lexi in his lap, and began to pray, and didn't stop.

**Disclaimer: **_The Mummy and its plot, characters, etc. is property of Director Stephen Sommers. The character Safti is the creation of the awesome Deana and is used with her permission. Everything else is mine._


	6. Chapter 6

Lexi opened her eyes, but quickly shut them against the white light that greeted them, groaning. Her head was swimming, but it didn't hurt at least. She felt like she had been hit by a double-decker bus. Slowly, sounds came into focus; a machine beeping steadily, the faintest murmur of voices. Her memory returned in chunks; her report, being tied up, and the blurry face of the man who saved her. Lexi tried again to open her eyes, squinting against the lights above her. She was in a stark white room, which only made it harder to see and threatened her with a headache. She was laying in a bed, a needle in her arm. A man, a doctor, walked over to her, smiling.

"Ah, you're awake! How do you feel Miss Montgomery?" Lexi blinked, trying to get used to all the bright white objects around her. She had always hated white.

"Tired," she croaked, throat dry. "Where am I?"

"In the hospital. Some friends of yours brought you in late last night. You were in bad shape."

"Friends…?" Lexi tried to remember more of what happened. She had been blindfolded and left alone, then the man - her own best friend, Ardeth Bay, she realized, stunned - had come in and saved her. Her kidnappers had been ransoming her for… what?

"Yes. Three men and a woman. The woman said her name was Evy O'Connell." Lexi smiled. Evy was a co-worker of hers, a strong willed British woman. Evy had had her back from the beginning, and it was comforting to know she still did. Lexi slowly managed to sit up; she may have been severely hurt the night before, but she hated bed rest, and it wasn't in her nature to stay still for long.

"How bad was I?" she asked.

"You had lost a good deal of blood, and had head trauma. The shock and delirium were the easiest to treat. To be honest, you shouldn't be able to sit up so well."

"Guess I'm lucky." She remarked. "Am I able to see my friends?"

"Certainly, but we can only allow one in at a time."

"Send in the man with tan skin, black hair and facial tattoos. His name is Ardeth." The doctor nodded and slipped out of the door. Lexi laid back down onto her pillows. She could hardly believe it. She had asked for Ardeth, and there Ardeth appeared.

_I definitely believe in 'ask and thou shall receive' now…_ Lexi thought with a grin. Sighing, she settled down and waited for Ardeth.

Ardeth was having trouble not pacing a trench in the hospital floor. It had been almost six hours since they brought Lexi to the hospital. Jonathan and Alex had arrived but were now asleep. Evy and Rick had been taking turns dozing off. Safti did not sleep but stayed seated, watching Ardeth fidget nervously, unable to stay still. The doctor suddenly came through the doors.

"How is she, doc?" Rick asked.

"Good news: she's awake and doing very well. She wants t see a man named Ardeth."

"That would be me," Ardeth said, stepping forward. The doctor nodded and lead Ardeth through the cold halls until they stopped at the room Lexi was in.

"She's inside. Her memory will likely be a little fuzzy, s please be patient if she doesn't remember something." Ardeth thanked the doctor and eased open the door, slipping inside.

Lexi looked towards the door as Ardeth stepped in. She was amazed by how much he had changed. The scruffy child was now a strong desert warrior. Lexi was proud as she grinned at her friend.

"I know that's not the same little boy who used to smuggle snakes into his tent." Ardeth laughed, showing a glimpse of the playful child he once was. Lexi hadn't changed at all in his mind. Ardeth stepped over and gently hugged his dear friend. Lexi giggled and hugged back with surprising strength. "It's great to see you. I missed you."

"I missed you too, Lexi." Ardeth sat on the edge of the bed, smiling more than he had in several days. "You just can't stay out of trouble, can you?" Lexi laughed.

"You know that's not my style, sweetheart. You know, I had hoped you would save me back in the storage room, but I didn't expect you to actually come." Ardeth chuckled.

"I couldn't let my friend get hurt, now could I?" Remembering that there was a more serious issue at hand, Ardeth's face lost it's light. Lexi's gut sank when Ardeth's face became serious, and she had to remind herself that they were not children anymore. _I just got beat over the brain and got laid up in a hospital bed and all I can do is joke about it?_ she thought. Things were serious, and she needed to be, too. Save the joking for later.

"The guys who caught me wanted something from you guys. What's going on here, Ardeth?" Ardeth brushed the hair from his eyes.

"I don't know much right now, Lexi. Have you heard of the Amulet of Mnemosyne?"

"I've heard of the goddess, but not an amulet, no. Why?" Ardeth quickly told her of the Amulet's power, and what the men wanted. "All this over a rock in my pocket?"

"The gem is more than a rock, Lexi. Now that they have both the gem and the chain, they have the ability to cause massive amounts of destruction." Lexi took Ardeth's hand and squeezed it.

"It'll be okay, Ardeth; we can still fix this mess." Ardeth had to smile.

"I hope you're right, Lexi."

"**Disclaimer: **_The Mummy and its plot, characters, etc. is property of Director Stephen Sommers. The character Safti is the creation of the awesome Deana and is used with her permission. Everything else is mine._


	7. Chapter 7

**Time Warp Ch 7**

By IloveBumbleBee2009

By that time the next day Lexi was in a normal, and much larger, room, having somewhat bought a transfer. Now everyone was inside, sitting in chairs or leaning against the wall. Evy had explained everything to Lexi (after letting her out of a death-grip hug), and now they were contemplating what to do.

"Any idea what the goons wanted the gem for?" Lexi asked, resting against her pillows.

"No clue," Rick answered. "But now that they have all of the Amulet, we need to start preparing for what they can do with it."

"Maybe we'll be lucky and they just want to sell it on the black market?" Jonathan remarked half-jokingly. Lexi gave a weak smile.

"If only. I heard them say something about wiping out the world." Lexi rolled her eyes. "Naturally, they think they'll be spared. Morons." Safti nodded, smiling slightly.

"And now that the have all the pieces, they are able to act out their plans." Lexi froze, a thought suddenly coming to her.

"No they don't…" Lexi was amazed she hadn't though of it before. It was so simple, yet so important. Ardeth looks at her in confusion.

"What are you talking about, Lexi?" Lexi sat up in bed, wincing a little in pain.

"When I got the gem a piece - just the tiniest piece - broke off. I didn't have the piece with me at the Museum. They can't use the Amulet yet!" Everyone froze, except for Rick, who stood up.

"Where is the piece?" Lexi smiled a little sheepishly.

"At my house in New York…" Ardeth faintly paled. That only meant one thing…

"Then it looks like we need to catch a plane."

"**Disclaimer: **_The Mummy and its plot, characters, etc. is property of Director Stephen Sommers. The character Safti is the creation of the awesome Deana and is used with her permission. Everything else is mine._


End file.
